Notes

19500903 2400 0111usmcops0

Sept 3, 1950

Staff Sergeant Saweren J. Dennis and his 2d Squad of engineers crept forward
at midnight 1,000 yards on the MSR and laid an antitank minefield across the road near the southern tip
of Hill 117. On the way Dennis discovered an enemy antitank minefield embedded in the road. Although the
engineers had never seen a Russian wooden-box mine before, knowledge gained from the study of intelligence
manuals during the Brigade’s sea voyage enabled them to detect, remove, and disarm every mine in the field
during darkness. The work was delayed a few minutes when Dennis traced a clanking sound to the roadside
ditch and killed a Communist soldier frantically trying to insert a loaded magazine into his submachinegun.

Before the engineers completed their work and retired to 1/5’s lines, Nature
added an obstacle of her own to any enemy plans for a counterattack. A rainstorm broke, and the heavy
downpour, accompanied by unseasonably icy winds, wrought misery on friend and foe alike for the rest
of the night.